The United States of America has asked Sonali Bank, the State run bank of Bangladesh, to close its accounts
with two banks of Myanmar as the country
is facing sanctions, said a recent report in Dhaka Tribune.
In June, sanctions were imposed on Myanmar Foreign Trade Bank (MFTB) and Myanmar Investment &
Commercial Bank (MICB) by the US government
for the human rights violations committed by the junta forces on its own citizens.
The US embassy in Dhaka informed the Bangladesh foreign ministry about the development and asked it to
close the accounts in Myanmar banks.
On August, the Bangla foreign ministry forwarded the
letter to the Sonali Bank
management and advised necessary actions in this regard.
Mentionable is that most of the payments for bilateral trade
between the two neighbouring
nations (Bangladesh and Myanmar) are usually madem through the Sonali Bank accounts.
The situation has put Sonali Bank in a difficult position as
it has USD 17,000 in deposits with
the MFTB and USD 200,000 with the MICB.
On the other hand, the MFTB has USD 100,000 and the other
one has USD 1 million in Sonali
Bank.
The concerned Sonali Bank officials informed that the money
is now frozen meaning they cannot
withdraw or transfer the amounts.
It’s chief executive officer cum managing director Afzal
Karim told Dhaka Tribune
that no transaction is being made through these accounts.
He confirmed that the banks were also unable
to withdraw their deposits
from each other. A directive in this regard has been sought from the Bangladesh bank, but the
central bank has not issued any
order yet, he added.
Bangladesh currently imports various items like timber, ginger, onion, betel nut, frozen fish, woolen broom,
coconut, pickle, dried fruit, cane,
tamarind seed, pulse, chickpea from Myanmar under the border trade agreement between the two
countries.
On the other hand, Bangladesh exports potatoes, biscuits, hosieries, plastic products etc to Myanmar.
According to data from the export promotion bureau (EPB), Bangladesh exported merchandise worth nearly USD
3.9 million to Myanmar in 2021-22.
On the other hand, in 2020-21 year, Bangladeshi businessmen
imported products worth Tk
1,409 crore (equivalent to about USD 130 million) from Myanmar.
